How Technology Is Transforming Communication in Theatre

Technology in the arts has been a passion of mine for decades. I’ve loved watching it transform the creative process as well as the art itself. 

Digital rehearsal tracks help in the rehearsal hall when refining trouble areas in production numbers. I’ve exhausted many a cast by resetting a section of music, pressing the space bar, and announcing “Again!” while perfecting dance breaks.

Moving lights have made plot hangs so much easier. Yes – programming does have a learning curve but it shifts the stress to the brain rather than the back.

Projections allow us to create whole new worlds on stage that we never could have built before. Gaston’s Lodge can be grand, and not just the bar you used in last summer’s Crazy for You.

Have you tried using live feeds onstage yet? We’ve used them in the concert section of The Who’s Tommy and even created a “Second Screen” performance for Rent. The audience brought their smartphones and iPads to experience the show onstage while their device would provide fun facts about the scenes and the performers onstage – as they happened. You could watch the action backstage, or rehearsal footage as it was mirrored live onstage. The pre-show was a video documentary of the making of the production, and at intermission you could see live backstage interviews with the cast.

You can’t help but embrace the changes, adapt to the challenges, and recreate your methods. Do they all work? No. And the technology will continue to evolve and you’ll have to grow with it. But, if you are like me, I welcome the change. I’m always excited to imagine “What’s Next?”.

The greatest leap technology has afforded us is in all forms of COMMUNICATION. Over my 30 years at CMT San Jose, I watched the organization grow from Xerox memos and phone trees. Remember phone trees? You’d receive a diagram showing who would call you with information and the additional 2 people you were responsible for sharing the news. Then there were newsletters, then emails, our very own website, smartphones. I pause here to emphasize the steep learning curve as young people first were allowed access to this new technology. It was probably, what?… 2 decades ago. I had stopped briefly in the Les Miz rehearsal of “Red and Black” to give some notes to a couple of the students. As I turned to Grantaire, his phone rang, he put his finger in my face to indicate “Hold that thought” and answered the phone. That was the first time (and last time) that happened. But hey! He didn’t know…. I didn’t know….but we know now. Cell phones are OFF in the rehearsal hall. Moving on to text messaging, and of course – social media.

Even before the first rehearsal, auditions and callbacks are often the largest and most important and difficult moments in creating a safe creative environment. It wasn’t that long ago that private moments between 2 friends talking in the car after an audition could happen, and that would be it. But now that experience is extended and amplified to others through social media. It can distort and intensify turning like-minded kids into rivals. It is hard to create a cohesive cast, and community if you don’t create safeguards. But even that can be difficult with the anonymity that can empower heightened emotions to be made public without accountability.   

Let’s start by acknowledging that we must provide support for the things we can control and be proactive by nurturing an empathetic community that values kindness beyond the rehearsal hall and stage. We hope for life-long and far-reaching effect.

First, create a safe space for performers and artists of all ages. The message should be simple, consistent, and repeated often:

“Be Brave.”

“Be Bold.”

“Swing for the Fences.”

“We Support your Exploration.”

A safe creative environment begins before the first note is sung or the first step is danced. At the orientation rehearsal, take time to reinforce shared expectations with the full cast and staff so everyone understands the culture you are building together.

Over the years, I have discussed these guidelines with hundreds of casts. The list may include a dozen statements, but the heart of it always comes down to two essential principles:

Common sense: Think before you speak, post, react, or repeat something.

Respect: This includes every performer, artist, staff member, volunteer, and yourself.

Without those principles, it is impossible to provide the safety net that risk-taking artists need. Once they are established, reinforce them consistently, even when it slows the rehearsal process. 

I have seen one-hour cast forums included halfway through a production schedule bring needed clarity to purpose, reset expectations for everyone in the room , and reaffirm the community’s shared values.

Reduce side conversations by establishing one principal place for official communication. Everyone should understand where important information will be shared, who handles posting it, and how questions should be directed. Within this site, the cast members still need a place to connect when they are not face-to-face. That space can be valuable, but it must be monitored with care and guided by the same expectations that apply in the rehearsal room. A healthy communication channel gives early emotional reactions time to settle before they become public, permanent, or unnecessarily damaging. It also helps leaders respond with clarity instead of chasing scattered comments across multiple threads.

These steps take time and energy but at the end of a project, what greater reward is there than a production that is remarkable and a cast that is happy. At the end of the night, you hope the last question exchanged is “What’s Next?”.